I wanna tell you about a man..
His name's Nick Cave. His band is called Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
As will become immediately apparent, he (and his Bad Seeds) are my musical heroes. As with all impressionable, moody, angst-ridden teenagers, I was introduced to him through my best friend James' older sister Vicki (she was so cool, what's not to love about an older goth chick with hot friends and great taste in music?) and it was the musical equivalent of being smashed across the face with a brick. Not in the sense of sheer volume, violence, or speed of the music, more so for the malevolent fire and brimstone that bubbled darkly beneath the surface and occasionally came crashing through in a wail of lyrical mayhem and destruction. If you're not familiar with Cave, the previous sentence means nothing to you - if you are, it should make perfect sense.
Let me try again. I first heard the album 'Henry's Dream' by Nick Cave in one of my morbid 'whats it all about then and who cares' periods of my life. Maybe everyone goes through it growing up? I'd never heard a song quite like 'Papa won't leave you, Henry' before with it's driving lyrics, incredible imagery and storytelling. I hadn't got a clue what it was about, I just knew it was fucking cool and I wanted more of it. At the time I was also into NIN, Violent Femmes, Undertones, Primal Scream, Stone Roses, Charlatans, Spritualised, Ride, PWEI, James to name but a few. It gives you a feel for the kind of music I was into, but honestly I'd never heard anything like this album before.
I still can't really describe the emotion, the untamed outbursts in some of the lyrics that struck the chord with me. After hearing 1 song from Vicki (on vinyl, naturally) James and I kept stealing her album and memorising all the lyrics. I guess you could say we fell in love with Nick as well. After all, if you're goth-friendly and a lover of all things dark'n'orrible how can you not like a gaunt, chainsmoking man with long, straight black hair who sings about murder, rape, pillage, broken hearts, the apocalypse, and then out of nowhere bursts out a heartachingly beautiful love song?
Interestingly, Henry's Dream is considered by most to be one of Cave's weaker albums, however I agree wholeheartedly with Beoirgra in that I consider it to be one of his greatest of all time simply because it was the album that hooked me in with wide open doe-eyes. Into his spell I fell and have purchased every single one of his albums since then.
I should perhaps mention I make an exception for his previous band The Birthday Party. This music I've tried hard but can't break myself into. It's too much animalistic noise, much like lead guitarist player Blixa Bargeld's side project Einstürzende Neubauten (Collapsing New Buildings to you, mate). While EN helped to pioneer industrial music, their avant-garde mix of white-noise guitar drones and vocals verges on the unlistenable at times. Imagine a clanging, rhythmic din produced by a percussion section consisting of construction materials, hand and power tools, and various metal objects. You won't be far off. I wasn't that far off the rails miladdo.
Why do I mention Nick only now in so many blog postings? I'm not sure. Maybe it's like a dirty little personal secret I have. I know about him, I know everything he's done, I think I understand him and you most likely don't. Maybe its through fear that if I let on, I'll be flamed by people who don't understand, don't get it, or worse still, don't care to listen to it closely enough to appreciate brilliance. Why mention it at all then? For some reason, I've only just got around to purchasing his latest double album 'Abbatoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus'.
After 3 straight listens through, I am astonished that it is their best work to date. Usually it takes me a few times to warm up to an album but I was instantly smitten. Very different from previous works, and taking its influences from all over the place it's amazing to me that the band is producing such work even now after the departure of Bargeld. It takes me to a warm place and makes me very happy. I have yet to discover most of the lyrics, but I'm sure when I do I'll feel a whole lot less fuzzy and a great deal more disturbed.
I'm going to leave you with a quote from their website which sums up all of my feelings much more coherently and intellectually than I ever could.
"Nick Cave has kept smart company over the years, clustered in maleficent, smart-dressed covens, penning dark tales for outsider souls, ever since his days in that gloriously apocalyptic early-80s Australian desperados, The Bad Seeds. But whether we’re talking about the early swamp blues and tenement howls of 1984’s Bad Seeds debut, From Her To Eternity and 1985’s The Firstborn Is Dead, the carny grotesques and nightmare alleys of 1986’s Your Funeral My Trial, the yearning, dope-sick heartbreak of 1988’s Tender Prey, the sinistral pop melodrama of 1990’s The Good Son or the visceral walking blues of 1992’s Henry’s Dream and 1994’s Let Love In, the labyrinthine blood narratives of 1996’s Murder Ballads or the stripped down heartbreak of 1997’s The Boatman’s Call, the chilling, majestic epic that was 2002’s No More Shall We Part or the let’s-go-to-work brutality of last year’s Nocturama, whether we call upon any point in Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds there’s nothing that betters this. And don’t just believe the press notes guy."
“There are no voices in the back of my mind saying ‘You really could have done this better’,” says Cave. “I’ve listened to this album a lot and I don’t have those voices at all.”
“Over the years my gut feeling about our albums has proved to be true,” concludes Mick Harvey, “and I think this is our best album.”
I agree. Thank you, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, for the best Wednesday in a long, long time. You're still my heroes and always will be.
As will become immediately apparent, he (and his Bad Seeds) are my musical heroes. As with all impressionable, moody, angst-ridden teenagers, I was introduced to him through my best friend James' older sister Vicki (she was so cool, what's not to love about an older goth chick with hot friends and great taste in music?) and it was the musical equivalent of being smashed across the face with a brick. Not in the sense of sheer volume, violence, or speed of the music, more so for the malevolent fire and brimstone that bubbled darkly beneath the surface and occasionally came crashing through in a wail of lyrical mayhem and destruction. If you're not familiar with Cave, the previous sentence means nothing to you - if you are, it should make perfect sense.
Let me try again. I first heard the album 'Henry's Dream' by Nick Cave in one of my morbid 'whats it all about then and who cares' periods of my life. Maybe everyone goes through it growing up? I'd never heard a song quite like 'Papa won't leave you, Henry' before with it's driving lyrics, incredible imagery and storytelling. I hadn't got a clue what it was about, I just knew it was fucking cool and I wanted more of it. At the time I was also into NIN, Violent Femmes, Undertones, Primal Scream, Stone Roses, Charlatans, Spritualised, Ride, PWEI, James to name but a few. It gives you a feel for the kind of music I was into, but honestly I'd never heard anything like this album before.
I still can't really describe the emotion, the untamed outbursts in some of the lyrics that struck the chord with me. After hearing 1 song from Vicki (on vinyl, naturally) James and I kept stealing her album and memorising all the lyrics. I guess you could say we fell in love with Nick as well. After all, if you're goth-friendly and a lover of all things dark'n'orrible how can you not like a gaunt, chainsmoking man with long, straight black hair who sings about murder, rape, pillage, broken hearts, the apocalypse, and then out of nowhere bursts out a heartachingly beautiful love song?
Interestingly, Henry's Dream is considered by most to be one of Cave's weaker albums, however I agree wholeheartedly with Beoirgra in that I consider it to be one of his greatest of all time simply because it was the album that hooked me in with wide open doe-eyes. Into his spell I fell and have purchased every single one of his albums since then.
I should perhaps mention I make an exception for his previous band The Birthday Party. This music I've tried hard but can't break myself into. It's too much animalistic noise, much like lead guitarist player Blixa Bargeld's side project Einstürzende Neubauten (Collapsing New Buildings to you, mate). While EN helped to pioneer industrial music, their avant-garde mix of white-noise guitar drones and vocals verges on the unlistenable at times. Imagine a clanging, rhythmic din produced by a percussion section consisting of construction materials, hand and power tools, and various metal objects. You won't be far off. I wasn't that far off the rails miladdo.
Why do I mention Nick only now in so many blog postings? I'm not sure. Maybe it's like a dirty little personal secret I have. I know about him, I know everything he's done, I think I understand him and you most likely don't. Maybe its through fear that if I let on, I'll be flamed by people who don't understand, don't get it, or worse still, don't care to listen to it closely enough to appreciate brilliance. Why mention it at all then? For some reason, I've only just got around to purchasing his latest double album 'Abbatoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus'.
After 3 straight listens through, I am astonished that it is their best work to date. Usually it takes me a few times to warm up to an album but I was instantly smitten. Very different from previous works, and taking its influences from all over the place it's amazing to me that the band is producing such work even now after the departure of Bargeld. It takes me to a warm place and makes me very happy. I have yet to discover most of the lyrics, but I'm sure when I do I'll feel a whole lot less fuzzy and a great deal more disturbed.
| Cover | Date of Release | Title |
 | Fri 01 Jun 1984 | From Her To Eternity |
 | Mon 03 Jun 1985 | The First Born Is Dead |
 | Mon 18 Aug 1986 | Kicking Against The Pricks |
 | Mon 03 Nov 1986 | Your Funeral...My Trial |
 | Mon 19 Sep 1988 | Tender Prey |
 | Tue 17 Apr 1990 | The Good Son |
 | Mon 27 Apr 1992 | Henry's Dream |
 | Mon 18 Apr 1994 | Let Love In |
 | Mon 05 Feb 1996 | Murder Ballads |
 | Mon 03 Mar 1997 | The Boatman's Call |
 | Mon 11 May 1998 | The Best Of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds |
 | Mon 02 Apr 2001 | No More Shall We Part |
 | Mon 03 Feb 2003 | Nocturama |
 | Mon 20 Sep 2004 | Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus |
I'm going to leave you with a quote from their website which sums up all of my feelings much more coherently and intellectually than I ever could.
"Nick Cave has kept smart company over the years, clustered in maleficent, smart-dressed covens, penning dark tales for outsider souls, ever since his days in that gloriously apocalyptic early-80s Australian desperados, The Bad Seeds. But whether we’re talking about the early swamp blues and tenement howls of 1984’s Bad Seeds debut, From Her To Eternity and 1985’s The Firstborn Is Dead, the carny grotesques and nightmare alleys of 1986’s Your Funeral My Trial, the yearning, dope-sick heartbreak of 1988’s Tender Prey, the sinistral pop melodrama of 1990’s The Good Son or the visceral walking blues of 1992’s Henry’s Dream and 1994’s Let Love In, the labyrinthine blood narratives of 1996’s Murder Ballads or the stripped down heartbreak of 1997’s The Boatman’s Call, the chilling, majestic epic that was 2002’s No More Shall We Part or the let’s-go-to-work brutality of last year’s Nocturama, whether we call upon any point in Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds there’s nothing that betters this. And don’t just believe the press notes guy."
“There are no voices in the back of my mind saying ‘You really could have done this better’,” says Cave. “I’ve listened to this album a lot and I don’t have those voices at all.”
“Over the years my gut feeling about our albums has proved to be true,” concludes Mick Harvey, “and I think this is our best album.”
I agree. Thank you, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, for the best Wednesday in a long, long time. You're still my heroes and always will be.
posted by CatSpit at
5:31 PM
"You're one microscopic cog
in his catastrophic plan
designed and directed
by his red, right hand."
I like it partially because, in this country, it's hard not to feel like microscopic cogs in catastrophic plans and because of the way he delivers the line, dripping with malice, yet, at the same time, making you unable to do anything but listen.
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